Speaker Ayaz Sadiq postpones Belarus visit as PML-N awaits SC verdict

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Nawaz Sharif have stopped Speaker of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq, from traveling to Belarus on Tuesday.

As per sources from within the PML-N, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq was held back from going to Belarus by former prime minister was taken as the party aims to take an aggressive stance in case the apex court gives a ruling against Nawaz Sharif’s re-election as PML-N president.

Ayaz Sadiq has been told to stay in the country in case the party needs to pass a new legislation on an urgent basis.

It is expected that the meeting of the National Assembly which is expected to conclude today will be extended.

The visit of the entire parliamentary delegation to Belarus has been postponed.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq was to lead a seven-member delegation of the parliament on a three-day visit to Belarus. Ayaz Sadiq was scheduled to meet the political leadership of Belarus, his counterpart and members of the country’s business community there.

Nearly two months after his ouster, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was elected President of his party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) unopposed through a rushed legislation.

Nawaz Sharif reclaimed the top position of PML-N on the day when President Mamnoon Hussain signed into law the Election Reforms Bill 2017 passed by the National Assembly and Senate.

PML-N leader Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry submitted Sharif’s papers for party president in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while no one other candidate from the party contested the election, paving the way of his unopposed election.